


Nothing Much, but Everything

by navaan



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Snowed In, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-24 04:56:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13206444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: It had always been that way between them and Steve had never examined it.





	Nothing Much, but Everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cap Iron Man Community](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Cap+Iron+Man+Community).



> For the prompt: 616 - Steve and Tony are incredibly physically comfortable with each other, but aren't dating. Getting together story.

The first time he was hugged after waking it were Jan's frail arms wrapping around him, but Iron Man hadn't been far behind. The memory of it still made him smile. And not only because he remembered that as a young man Steve had so often worried about the friend hidden away in the red and gold walls that both protected and trapped him. Steve remembered how the habit had built, to have his hand on Iron Man's shoulder, on the small of his back, on his elbow, and how it had given him comfort in turn to feel the heavy gauntlet settle on his own shoulder.

And back then, there had been Tony, too, always quick to touch, always quick to express his emotions with all of himself.

It had always been that way between them and Steve had never examined it. Tony had been so many things to him in more than one guise: compatriot, partner, support, adviser, friend and family. They'd had their fair shares of disagreements over the years, but it had never changed the simple facts of this: they knew the other; they were close; they were comfortable with each other.

Even years down the line, nothing had changed about that. They'd split up, gone their separate way, lived their own lives, but Iron Man and Captain America, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark were always friends and when they got back together the time apart didn't matter.

They knew each other too well.

“Here”, Steve said, and pushed dry fresh clothes into Tony's cold, stiff fingers, while he ushered him toward the small bathroom of his Brooklyn apartment.

“I can call a driver,” Tony said absentmindedly. 

“Let your poor driver rest,” Steve admonished. “I think you noticed there's a blizzard outside.”

“Sorry,” Tony said and looked at the heap of armor they'd dragged back home from the recent fight as if Iron Man had personally betrayed him. 

Steve just laughed. 

“Go take a shower. I'll prepare coffee,” he said, knowing full well that the chances were that there wasn't any coffee in the house, and made ready to get himself something else to wear. When Tony didn't move, he clapped him on the shoulder, trying to covertly steer him towards his small bathroom. 

But Tony planted his feet to ground and looked up at him with a serious face, not budging. “No,” he said. “You go first. Your flat. I'm the unexpected guest. And you hate the cold more than I ever could, Cap. Go.”

 _We could go together,_ he nearly suggested – and would it have been so big a deal if he actually _had_? It wasn't like they hadn't showered together before. Hell, he clearly remembered the time, when they'd had to wash each other's backs because of that yellow alien glue-goo that had gotten _everywhere_.

A soft touch to the shoulder drew him from his thoughts and Tony neatly stepped out of his reach, pointing at his bathroom. “Go, get warm,” he instructed and walked into Steve's open kitchenette. 

He hadn't been here often, because he was what he always was: busy being a CEO, inventor and Iron Man. The last time he'd come by though he'd dumped a whole set of furniture on him two days later with the note: “Make it look like you live there, for god's sake.”

Steve was still thinking of that fondly.

“You're still standing there being cold,” Tony pointed out and put the clothes Steve had pushed at him on the kitchen table, before he shrugged out of his rumpled, wet suit jacket and pulled up his sleeves like he was getting ready to repair the armor or take apart a car. 

It brought another smile to Steve's lips.

He took his shower, quickly and efficiently, making sure Tony would get his own time under the warm spray soon to warm up. Dressed in a t-shirt and comfortable pants and with damp hair he stepped out into the apartment and saw Tony stretch himself to get something from the cupboard. He looked out of place in his white, rumpled shirt, the red tie and the black suit pants, rummaging around in Steve's cupboards to inspect his selection of tea.

“Tea?” he asked and stepped closer, pressing a hand to the small of Tony's back before reaching over him to get another package from the back he knew Tony would like. He wasn't going to tell his friend that he was keeping it for the rare times Tony was here anyway. 

“Your coffeemaker is broken,” Tony said with a neutral expression, but then his eyes lit up when he caught sight of the tea brand he liked. 

“It's not broken.”

Tony scrunched up his nose and said: “Oh, yes, it is. Nobody can make decent coffee with that.”

He grinned, although he was half afraid he'd get a new high-tech coffeemaker delivered before the week was out. 

“I'll look at it later,” Tony threatened and Steve tried not to laugh. He had a feeling that Tony would need something to occupy himself with later, and the coffeemaker might have to be sacrificed. 

He pushed Tony towards the bathroom now though, made sure he had everything he needed. “I'll make your tea.”

“Mother hen,” Tony muttered. “It's just warm water anyway.”

“Don't argue with your elders,” Steve shot back. “We just want what's best for you ungrateful youngsters.”

“Har, har,” Tony said, but didn't look bothered in the slightest, but like he'd argue for coffee later despite his reservations about Steve's perfectly serviceable coffeemaker. 

Later, when Tony reappeared from the shower, dressed in Steve's clothes, they drank their tea together, leaning against the kitchen counter, hip to hip, making jokes and catching up. It was true that Steve had never again learned to be comfortable with the cold that was raging outside his door today, but right now he couldn't regret that the blizzard was giving them an excuse to stay put.

“Let's hope no crazy villain gets an idea to push his world domination agenda today,” Tony said and looked very content, as they moved to the sofa.

Steve couldn't agree more. Right now he wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world.

They talked. They made popcorn. They heated up frozen pizza together. They watched a movie and the news. It was like their early days in the Avengers Mansion library and yet they were so much closer today. 

It was long after midnight, and they were watching a slightly predictable detective movie, when Tony's commentary for it stopped. He had fallen asleep with his head resting against Steve's shoulder. Smiling, Steve carefully shifted him until he could lie more comfortably stretched out on the sofa, his head resting against Steve's thigh. “Night,” he said to the sleeping form and pulled a cover from the back of the sofa to cover them both.

* * *

It took him another three months to realize that Tony, who was generally open to touch and hugs from everyone, wasn't _exactly_ as comfortable with anyone else on the team as he was with Steve. Yes, he slung his arms around Hawkeye's shoulders, yes, he patted Carol on the back, yes, he hugged Jan, but the ease of their physical comfort was different from all that. He pondered it, when he watched Tony receive a back pat from Thor. 

Tony caught him looking and grinned at him.

A warm feeling welled up in his chest and he smiled back.

* * *

It took him _a few_ more months to put a name to that warm feeling.

* * *

He put a hand on the small of Tony's back and reached for the Captain America mug in the cupboard in the Avengers Tower kitchen to set it down in front of Tony, covertly breathing a kiss against his neck.

“That's so sickeningly sweet I now want to never have breakfast again,” Clint muttered.

Carol laughed. “I'm sure Tony's purse would thank you.”

“I'm sure Tony's purse doesn't mind one way or another.”

Tony leaned a bit more into Steve and whispered: “At least I could have peaceful breakfast with my boyfriend then.”

“Ah,” Steve whispered back and let his hand trail down his back, “peaceful or not, your boyfriend doesn't mind one way or another. I'd have breakfast with you in a hurricane.”

“You know,” Carol said wistfully, “apart from the kissing, nothing much has changed actually.”

Tony turned, his Captain America cup filled with coffee, and found himself half in Steve's arms. Amused he pecked him on the lips and then made his way to the door, impatient to get back to the workshop. “Nothing much, yeah,” he said, but his eyes were twinkling, saying: _Nothing much, and yet everything is perfect now._

Steve grinned to himself, as he watched him go, before he grabbed his Iron Man cup from the cupboard.


End file.
